IRL Feature - Franchitti Does It Again
04/07/2007
Dario Franchitti put on another dominating show Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, leading all but eight laps of the 250-lap SunTrust Indy Challenge.
It was his second commanding win on a short oval in seven days. Last Sunday, he controlled most of a crash-filled race at Iowa Speedway. Things, it seems, are going his way…
With a stretch of races that plays to Franchitti's strengths - Watkins Glen, Nashville and Mid-Ohio - the rest of the IndyCar Series is beginning to wonder if it's a done deal.
All except Franchitti, who cautions that, in spite of an impeccable first nine races this season, he and his Andretti Green Racing crew still have eight more left.
"We're way too early in the season to start points racing," Franchitti says. "You have to just get the maximum that you can, but I've always done that, anyway. You take what you can get. There's only so much you can do.
"If the car is good, you've got to be out front. If the car isn't so good, you've got to get the most you can out of it. Sometimes you can grab the car by the scruff of the neck and get an extra place or two, but it seems the way the series is, that's become more and more difficult."
Franchitti, who started from the pole by virtue of entrant points when qualifying was rained out Friday night, took advantage of the starting position. The only time he didn't lead was when Tony Kanaan beat him out of the pits on the 64th lap, and when Helio Castroneves led a lap while the field cycled through green-flag stops on the 160th lap.
Franchitti set two significant records in the course of victory, breaking the track record for average race speed, 133.408 mph, and breaking the IndyCar Series record for most laps led in one race, 242.
Franchitti finished the authoritative performance by pulling away after a restart with six laps remaining to beat Scott Dixon to the finish line by 0.4194 seconds.
Following Franchitti and Dixon to the stripe were Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon in third and Franchitti's AGR teammate Kanaan in fourth. Franchitti came into the race with a 51-point lead over Kanaan in the IndyCar standings, but he left with a 65-point lead over Dixon.
Dixon had little for Franchitti at the end, blaming a single-groove track for the issues. "It was a weird race," Dixon said. "Nobody could make up too much ground on anyone else. It's always tough to pass here. It's very hard to get close to the guy in front of you.
"The restarts were a lot closer. You were worried about losing traction on restarts, so everyone was being very careful. It's the same deal here as always: there are so many marbles off-line. It's just not worth the risk."
"Sam was trying to pass the leader with 20 laps to go, and he was three laps down," Dixon said. "I don't see a reason for it. He ruined that part of the race for us."
Wheldon held on for a frustrating podium finish that kept him alive in the midseason points race - tied for third with Kanaan, 72 points behind Franchitti. Like most other competitors, Wheldon noted the lack of the usual side-by-side Richmond drama.
"It was a very difficult race and very much unlike past races here," Wheldon said. "If you were in the lead, it was good, but when you were trying to get to the leader and pass, it was very difficult."
Kanaan also was frustrated by his inability to gain any ground on Franchitti, especially when lapped cars became an issue. "We were just hanging on today. I'm really disappointed."
The IndyCar Series resumes Friday with practice sessions at Watkins Glen International in preparation for the Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix on July 8 – a road course, right up Franchitti’s street…